


don't leave me like this

by elfiethewicked



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 13:11:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11715069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elfiethewicked/pseuds/elfiethewicked
Summary: It had gone wrong oh so quickly. They had been driving in the rain down the highway on the way to the next in a long list of motels in their impromptu road-trip then a truck-driver lost control of his vehicle in the rain and Neil, who had fought his way to the driver seat, swerved the best he could but it was too late.  The truck hit them full speed at the driver’s side and when Andrew woke up with a headache, a few cuts, and bruised ribs Neil was fighting for his life at the Intensive Care Unit.





	don't leave me like this

It had gone wrong oh so a quickly. They had been driving in the rain down the highway on the way to the next in a long list of motels in their impromptu road-trip then a truck-driver lost control of his vehicle in the rain and Neil, who had fought his way to the driver seat, swerved the best he could but it was too late.  The truck hit them full speed at the driver’s side and when Andrew woke up with a headache, a few cuts, and bruised ribs Neil was fighting for his life at the Intensive Care Unit.

Andrew was pissed. He was pissed at the truck-driver for driving when he couldn’t control his vehicle, he was pissed at the nurses for trying to dot on him, he was pissed at the doctors who wouldn’t let him out of bed and into the ICU. Mostly he was pissed at Neil; he was pissed at Neil for insisting on driving, pissed at Neil for turning the car so Neil took the first and heaviest impact, pissed at Neil for lying in the ICU while Andrew walked away with a few scratches; he was pissed at Neil for mattering to him.

When the doctors and nurses had put him through several x-rays and ultrasounds and Andrew was prepared to kill them all he was finally given a green light to go to the ICU waiting room. A nurse met him at the desk and informed him that Neil was still in surgery but he was welcome to wait. Andrew didn’t want to wait but there was nothing else he could do. Andrew had done his fair share of waiting and enduring in his life. He had endured his foster homes and waited for them to change. He had endured Drake and he had endured juvie. He had waited to go back to Cass, he had waited for the right moment to keep his promise to Aaron and get rid of their mother. He had endured Kevin’s endless attempts at converting him to an exy junkie and waited for him to give up. He had waited for his interest in Neil to pass, then he had waited for Neil to run, now he was waiting to see if Neil would stay.

Waiting to find out if Neil was going to survive was the worst kind of waiting. There was nothing he could do to speed up time or distract himself and there was no end to the waiting in sight. A few hours later a nurse came back to tell him that Neil was out of surgery and his body should heal, it was only a matter of when or if Neil would wake up again.

“Can I see him?”

“I’m sorry Sir but I can’t let anyone but his emergency contact or next of kin in.”

“I am his emergency contact and next of kin!”

“I understand that you are close to your friend but he doesn’t have a listed next of kin or an emergency contact.”

Andrew swore out loud startling the nurse. Of course, Neil didn’t have an emergency contact. Of course, Neil had been stupid enough to forget to write Andrew or even coach as his emergency contact. Hell, even Andrew had coach as his emergency contact. How could Neil have been so stupid. With how reckless he was on court and how often he was “fine” Neil should’ve known he would end up in a hospital sooner rather than later.

However, he had, naturally, not thought that far. Now Andrew would have to find another way to get in. If Neil survived this Andrew was going to kill him.

“I have to see him, I have to check that he is okay,” Andrew insisted.

“He is very well taken care of Sir.” The nurse tried to reassure Andrew.

“You don’t understand I need to see him, I need to be there when he wakes up. He hates hospitals, he needs a familiar face there, he need me there or he will tear the place down”

“Sir, he is in no state to tear anything down, you don’t have to worry.” If those words were meant to reassure Andrew they were poorly chosen. If Neil couldn’t even fight to see Andrew…

No, Andrew wouldn’t go there. He had to see Neil first.

The nurse left and Andrew started to pace the floor in the waiting room. There were a lot of pitiful glances his way but he didn’t care. He contemplated calling coach or Kevin to see if a famous face would get him in, but Kevin would tell coach and coach would tell the other foxes and Andrew didn’t want them there. He didn’t want the hovering, worrying, taking up space. Then he contemplated calling Renee, maybe she could charm her way in, but there was still the issue of discretion. Renee would claim that Neil wasn’t only his and that the other’s had the right to know and Andrew was back to square one.

Andrew wanted to scream. Policy, he was going to be kept from Neil because of policy? To hell with that. Andrew curled his hand around the knife in his pocket. He would see Neil one way or another. The hospital staff hadn’t liked Andrew having them but they weren’t illegal so they couldn’t do anything. However, if they didn’t let him see Neil they would live to regret not taking them from him.

 

Andrew was burning inside out. It had been four hours since Neil was out of surgery, seven since Andrew had first started waiting to see Neil and for the past three hours he had fought, argued and threatened people to the verge of being thrown out but still they hadn’t let him see Neil. All he could do was to wait for Neil wake up. He thought maybe he could handle that. Then something went wrong. Nurses and doctors started to run around like crazy there were whispering, hushed voices and when Andrew overheard Neil’s name he flew out in the corridor and to the information desk.

“Neil Josten. What’s happening to him?”

“I’m sorry Sir but I cannot say.”

Andrew turned around and took in the scene nurses whispering in the corners, doctors with worried faces, the pitiful glances his way and he knew he had to get to Neil no matter what.

“What is wrong with him!”

“I’m sorry Sir I can’t…”

“I have to see him!”

“Sir I’m going to have to ask you to calm down.”

“I need to see him”

“Sir, even if the situation wasn’t an emergency I couldn’t let anyone but family inside.”

“I am his _soulmate_!”

“I’m sorry Sir but I can’t let you in”

Andrew swore, he turned around only to see that the scene had settled but that the pitiful glances his way were more. Neil wasn’t… Neil couldn’t be…

A young woman stepped forward and put her hand on his shoulder.

“If you would be so kind as to come with me Sir” Andrew yanked his arm free but the woman put it back and turned him to her, just as he was about to pull his knife she whispered. “If you come with me I can get you to him.” She cast a weary look around the corridor, lead Andrew away to empty room and continued.

“You said you were his soulmate? Do you know where his soulmate tattoo is located? What it portrays?”

“It’s on his left hip, right on the bone” Andrew hesitated, he had already given up so much of himself today, to complete strangers, but if it would get him to Neil…

“It looks like this” he said and dragged down his armband just enough to show the black and white key imprinted to the inside of his arm. Quick as lighting she whipped out her phone and took a photo.

“If you aren’t lying, and he has the same tattoo where you say it is- “

“I’m not lying.” She smiled at him, “I didn’t think you were”

She snuck out of the room and Andrew went back to the waiting room. Seconds ticked by, then minutes, a quarter of an hour passed before she returned.

“You weren’t lying”

“I know that.” She smiled again. “Come with me”

Andrew didn’t have to be asked twice and kept even strides with the woman despite the fact that she was much taller than him. She stopped before a closed door.

“Now I’ve talked to the doctors and explained the situation, they were weary but when I showed them both the tattoos and explained that you had known where it was they agreed to let you sit with him now that he is stabilized.”

She turned around to look at him again. “The main reason we are even letting you in is that Neil has a better chance of waking up if he feels he has something to wake up to. Talk to him, let him hear your voice. If he cares half as much about you as you do for him that should be enough. Remember, from here on it’s all up to him. There is nothing more we can do”

Andrew said nothing, he just stared at the closed door until the woman sighed and opened it.

“If he wakes up, if something changes, or if you need anything you press that button”

Andrew nodded but he could barely hear her. He was too busy staring at Neil. Paler than ever with cables and tubes attached to various parts of his body. Andrew was relieved to see he didn’t need a machine to breathe for him.

Andrew was at his side in a second. He waited until the door closed before he moved again. When it had he reached up to Neil’s forehead, brushing away the few strands that had fallen into Neil’s eyes, just the way Neil hated.

“If you don’t wake up I will kill you.”

 

Andrew sat here talking, talking, and talking. He hadn’t even talked this much when he was on drugs when it seemed like something had always had been pouring out of his mouth along with a laugh. He talked about exy, he retold games and recited weaknesses in the other team. He almost wished Kevin was there, God knows he could talk about exy for hours without stopping for breathing breaks. Even history if he was given the chance.

What more could Andrew talk about, what more did Neil live for other than exy? The foxes, maybe but Andrew could bear to talk about them. Couldn’t bear to share Neil with someone else if this was the last time he would talk to him.

A doctor and nurse came in for a check-up and Andrew listened carefully to hear the extensions of Neil’s injuries. When they were gone he took Neil’s wrist in both of his hands, focusing on the pulse he could feel there.

_I’ve killed him, even if he survives this I’ve killed him, he has no chance in hell of playing exy after this._

That didn’t mean Andrew wouldn’t fight. He would die before he let anyone get to Neil. He had a promise to keep after all. However, first Neil had to wake up.

Andrew knew there was one more thing Neil lived for, one more thing that kept him grounded.

“I-“ Andrew’s voice was rough of use so he cleared his throat. “I remember the first time I saw you play, granted it was through a video screen, and your technique was useless but you played with this passion, like you cared, like playing exy was all that mattered to you and I thought that maybe, just maybe having someone who had that much potential, who had that much drive would be enough for Kevin, enough for Kevin to keep him fighting, enough to keep Kevin with the foxes. So, we flew down to get you, and just like the rabbit you were, you ran. What a first meeting, huh? I still maintain you deserved it. Especially after the obvious fear on your face when you realized Kevin was there. That useless comment about not deserving to play with a champion didn’t fool me, I knew you had some kind of history with him. I knew you were a problem and here’s the thing: I don’t like problems or enigmas, I like knowing what I’m dealing with, so I decided to take you apart piece by piece until I had solved you. That didn’t really work though, you are too good at keeping secrets when you want to and you are so damn unpredictable. You change everything around you, you turned it all around on me. You tried to solve me instead. I let you because you were interesting, you made the world less boring, you made the drugs less frustrating, and you cared, for some goddamn reason you cared. I thought it was because you were my soulmate but it didn’t’ at up that you knew. You didn’t act like you knew, but why else would you care so much. It wasn’t until after Easthaven I realized just how much I had let you solve me, how much I had let you take into your hands, it wasn’t until then I realized I had but a leash on myself and handed you the other end. Still I had thought I could handle it, handle you. I should’ve kept you on a safe distance but I _felt_ _something._ That should’ve stopped me right then and there but like I said you made things interesting and I had forgotten just how boring the world was without the drugs.”

Andrew took a deep breath and stared intensely at Neil’s face.

_Wake up, dammit._

When Neil didn’t move as much as an eyelash Andrew continued his story.

“After Baltimore, I knew something had changed, or really nothing had changed I had just realized how things had change. I realized when I would have done anything, _anything,_ to find you, when running around the stadium with nothing but a phone felt like falling, when seeing you again felt like crashing into the ground. I realized that what we had wasn’t nothing, I realized I wanted you to stay, I needed you to stay. I couldn’t just let you go. I had let you in too far, let you mean too much. When we sat in that car and you asked if you could be Neil again and I showed you my tattoo. I think that was when you actually realized that, yes, the key on your hip was me. I told you to bury Nathaniel in Baltimore with his father but your eyes never left my tattoo. When I broke my deal with Aaron, I found out then that while you knew that we were soulmates you didn’t know that I really cared more for you than I had let on. However, I didn’t need proof that you felt something for me too; It was there on your face when you came back from the FBI, beaten and broken you look for no-one but me and I knew. I knew and I hit the ground. It didn’t kill me.”

Andrew closed his eyes, leaned his head where he was holding on the Neil’s hand.

“This time it might.”

He took a few deep calming breaths.

_“Don’t leave me, don’t do that to me”_

A small tap against his throat and Andrew shot up his head.

“Neil?”

A hand squeezed his and he let out a shaky breath.

“Neil.” It came out sounding choked but Andrew didn’t care. He reached up and brushed away Neil’s bangs further so he could see his face clearly.

A flutter of eyelids, a groan and Neil was awake and looking at Andrew. Andrew quickly collected his face but he knew the relief would still shine through in his eyes. Neil gave him a weak smile.

“’m not going anywhere.”

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are my lifeblood
> 
> Visit me at elfiethewicked.tumblr.com


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